Clinique SPF30 Face Cream with SolarSmart

Clinique SPF30 Face Cream with SolarSmart

Since I wrote about the bareMinerals sunscreen that I really like for my face earlier this week, I thought I should write about the Clinique facial sun protection that I tried recently too. I picked up my little one ounce/ 30 ml tube of Clinique’s SPF30 Face Cream when we were in Helsinki because I saw a special deal on it. Since I’m always looking for good facial sun protection I thought this was the perfect time to try this out.

I saw this small sized tube in Stockmann department store in Helsinki for just €10.00 and it was a low enough price point, and a small enough tube, that I took a chance on it. Plus, I thought I remembered seeing a post recently on someone’s blog (that of course I can’t recall now) about this being a great Clinique facial sunscreen, so I thought I had a recommendation. Of course, after trying this one I think that they weren’t talking about this at all but rather about the Clinique Super City Block SPF40. Whoops!

I had thought this wasn’t going to be so much like sunscreen, but really it is just sunscreen from Clinique. It is thick and white and has that unappealing sunscreen smell. All of that is the main reason why I think I really want the Super City Block instead. The good thing is that this provides a high level of protection against UVA/UVB, which it does quite well. It uses Clinique’s SolarSmart technology that they describe like this: “…stabilizes high-level protection against the aging and burning effects of UVA and UVB rays. Triggers a repair that helps prevent signs of aging. With solar-activated antioxidants that help prevent visible damage.” All of which sounds great, plus they say that it is oil free and gentle enough for sensitive skin, which also sounds like a big plus to me. Unfortunately, my results didn’t quite live up to that description.

I will say that this kept my skin from burning on a recent day when I was outside for a couple of hours in the sun, so it did that well. Unfortunately, the thick texture made my face pretty sweaty, even though it wasn’t hot out at all. And despite the oil-free nature of the cream, it broke me out. A lot. My skin is pretty stable and doesn’t usually breakout like this unless I’m having killer PMS. But after using this, I ended up having a big, unattractive breakout on my chin and even my nose. That is not the result that I want in my facial sunscreen.

So, needless to say, this isn’t going to be my go-to facial sunscreen cream. I can’t imagine how much this would make my face sweat and freak out my skin if I wore it in a place where it was actually hot. I much prefer the equally effective but less annoying to my skin bareMinerals sunscreen. However, if you’d like to give this a try since I’ve talked it up so much (LOL), you can find it at John Lewis in a 50 ml tube for £17.00. I think I’ll either have Dave use the rest of this tube or else I’ll use it on my hands to protect them since they are less persnickety than my face. And at some point in the future I’ll pick up a tube of the Clinique Super City Block SPF40.